The present invention relates to sealing devices for a printing press.
In the past, printing presses have been provided with chambers for retaining ink with a metering roller being mounted over the chamber such that ink passes through an opening of the chamber onto the roller. Also, one or more doctor blades may be mounted adjacent the chamber such that the doctor blades contact an outer surface of the roller. In the past, the device may have a sealing member constructed from a porous material having an inner surface for contacting the roller. The porous material, such as felt, provides a low friction surface for the roller.
However, it has been found that the porous material acts as a wick, and permits passage of ink through the sealing member over an extended period of time during use on the press. In this case, the press must be stopped, and the chamber must be opened in order to replace the sealing members for the device. It has been found very inconvenient to replace these sealing members periodically since the sealing members must be maintained in the inventory for the press, and their replacement contributes to undesirable down time of the press.